A/N:
Jesus tap-dancing Christ in a bikini, forty chapters. FORTY. CHAPTERS.
Power For Life- Kusuda Aina
Upon getting dressed, Nozomi followed Kussun to her blue Mini that was parked in the driveway. Kussun had given up trying to keep Chip inside the house, so she just carried him to the car and told Nozomi to get into the shotgun seat first.
"You're his seat," she said, not giving Nozomi a choice to respond as she plopped the small, curly-coated dog on her lap. The little brown eye stared up at Nozomi as she awkwardly rubbed his back.
Nozomi concluded that there was no stairway to heaven. There was a stairway to her ultimate demise, that's for sure, which she re envisioned the steps to her apartment to be. She trudged up, awkwardly shuffling her hands in her jacket's pocket and gnawing on her e-cigarette.
"So, you ready to accept your death?" Kussun placed a hand on Nozomi's shoulder, even though she was shorter than her apprentice. Nozomi let out a sigh as she fumbled for the keys to her apartment, knowing exactly the response she was going to get.
Thirty seconds into the search for her keys, Kussun shoved in front of Nozomi and rapped her knuckles on the door.
"K-Kussun!" Nozomi hissed at her former teacher's action. Sure enough, footsteps rushed to the door, and it was thrown open to reveal a dishevelled head of blonde hair.
Ayase Eli look as though she hadn't slept and was thrown into a sewer. Her shirt was rolled up and stained, her hair was down and matted, and her face glistened with tear-stains to match her shirt. The blue eyes were bloodshot red, and the hand resting on the wall revealed nails that were uneven and gnawed.
The sight made Nozomi's heart sink, her face fell and blood ran cold. Kussun just smiled and placed a hand on Nozomi's shoulder gain, eyes twinkling.
"Hello Eli-chan! It's been a while," she spoke as though they had run into each other in the street. She tightened her grip on Nozomi's shoulder slightly as those blood-shot blue eyes glistened with fresh tears at the sight.
"I believe this one belongs to you," with that said, Nozomi sheepishly looked at Eli, after casting a glance at Kussun. The older artist pushed Nozomi forward, and Eli let out shaky breaths.
"She's alive and in one piece, which is better than the alternative."
'Wow, that's blunt,' Nozomi thought as Eli's breath hitched in her throat. She threw herself into Nozomi and wrapped her arms so tightly around her, that Nozomi could feel her rib cage being crushed. Eli was sobbing so hard that Nozomi was barely able to make out what was coming from her mouth.
"You had me worried sick...you...you stupid…" Eli's choked sobs rang out in Nozomi's ears as her grip tightened on the tattoo artist. Kussun continued to smile like there was nothing wrong, and let Chip make circles around her legs.
"Well then, Eli-chan, I have delivered your Non-tan back to you, safe and sound, so I will be taking my leave. I hope you've learnt you lesson to never smoke mixed weed again."
"Huh?!" Nozomi snapped her head up to look over at her former teacher. Eli's head whipped back so fast that Nozomi was sure she had given herself whiplash.
"Drugs?!"
"The one and only disgusting substances. Well, that and smoking," Kussun bent down to pick up Chip in her arms. She then adjusted him so that he was in one arm, and pulled out her phone with her free hand. She hummed.
"It's nearly 11am, and I have to open my own studio today. Heaven forbid that I be late for that."
"You're just going to dump me and run?!" Nozomi snapped, but Kussun ignored her. The older artist was paying more attention to the seething anxiety that was practically radiating from Eli.
"You were out all night doing drugs?!"
"Let me know the dates for your appointment with the lawyer, and I'll come along," Kussun blew a kiss towards Nozomi and winked.
"See you then, Non-tan!"
"K-Kussun!" the purple-haired woman called after the artist, who was already jumping down the stairs back to her car, waving over her shoulder. Her footsteps got softer and softer, and the sound of a car starting was when Nozomi realised that Kussun had - indeed- dumped her and ran.
It was just Eli and Nozomi. She artist sheepishly looked at Eli, whose whole face was red now, eyes watering again.
"N-Now, before you say anything-" Nozomi started, but Eli had released her from the embrace and clamped her hand around Nozomi's wrist and dragged her soulmate into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind her with an immense force.
Nozomi was thrown onto the couch and under Eli's red gaze. It was like staring down the barrell of a gun.
"Your only message to me was a fucking emoji!" Eli's cracked instantly, her hands were stiffened into claws as she stared down at her soulmate. Nozomi instantly felt the regret, not that she didn't already.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?! I got everyone to help me look for you!"
"Elichi-"
"NO!" She interrupted Nozomi, firing the metaphorical gun.
"You shut your mouth and listen to me!"
Instantly, Nozomi fell silent. Eli took a long, shaking breath through her nose and grit her teeth while she spoke.
"You sent me a single emoji yesterday, you didn't even bother to tell me where you were, you ignored the texts Umi sent you…" Her voice trailed off as another hitch happened in her throat. Tears started to spill down her face like a waterfall as she tried to form words.
"You...you could have been kidnapped...or killed...or worse!" Eli picked up a pillow from the couch and smacked it right into the side of Nozomi's head. The latter cradled her cheek after the impact.
"I'm sorry, Elichi!"
"Don't you Elichi me!" The blonde spat and pulled out her phone and went to her messages. Her voice was wavering drastically.
"You don't even know how late we all stayed out! Kotori and Umi were up at your shrine until one in the morning! And you were mixing drugs!"
Nozomi's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Kotori and Umi, who had bigger things to worry about, had spent such a long time in the freezing winter night at a shrine to see if she had gone there to seek out help.
"I...didn't mix them…" Her voice was small, making Eli snort and fold her arms.
"Honoka and Maki went to your store and searched the entire neighbourhood for you!"
"They...went to Lily White?" Nozomi managed to get that passed her lips as Eli's gaze practically drilled through her own eyes.
"Yes...they went to the studio...they were so w-worried about…" She didn't finished her scolding, because fresh tears were starting to fall. Nozomi reached out her left hand to pull Eli down onto the couch tenderly.
Eli made no resistance as she landed on Nozomi's lap. She winced slightly as Eli curled her fingers into her shoulder for support, nails digging into her skin. "I can't live without you Nozomi, and I thought you had left…"
Eli raised her head from Nozomi's shoulder and resumed her icy glare. Her lips were pursed in irritation.
"You're lucky that you've closed your store for the week, because you will be under my surveillance for the next week."
"E-Excuse me?" Nozomi couldn't be any more confused. Eli smacked her hand over Nozomi's lips to get her to stop talking, and raised her other hand to extend her first finger into the air.
"I will not attend your meetings with your lawyer, but I will be taking you to work with me."
"Elichi, you c-"
"I can and I will," Eli interrupted Nozomi with a fierce scowl. Nozomi bit her lip.
"I'm...so sorry Elichi...really I am."
"You should be," Eli lowered her head to curl into Nozomi, seeming to ignore the fact that she was taller than the tattoo artist.
"I was so worried for you…You idiot…"
Sunday morning did not come any slower. Eli slapped the alarm with a shaky hand and groaned while she sat up. Her blonde hair was tousled over her shoulders as she looked down at Nozomi, who seemed to be staring at the wall.
"You're awake already,"
Nozomi blinked to turn her gaze onto the florist. It was followed by a shrug.
"Your 8am alarm woke me up," she mumbled while Eli leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.
"Sorry about that," Eli moved back with a small grin, then ripped the sheets off them both.
"We have to get ready. The flower store doesn't run itself, unfortunately."
Eli led Nozomi down to Bibi. They stopped at the front glass door, and Eli turned to Nozomi.
"I'm going to unlock the place. Stay put," she pointed to the ground while Nozomi pulled out her e-cigarette with a nod to show that she understood.
Eli turned to the face door and took a deep, shaky breath.
"...Are you going to unlock it?"
"Give me time, Nozomi," Eli's curt response coincided with her cold gaze she was currently giving the door. Eli moved her keys to the lock, trying to steel her nerves.
"Elichi, don't you do this everyday?"
"I normally do it alone, smart-arse," Eli snapped back as Nozomi let out a chuckle. It was rather cute to see Eli fumble with the lock.
Nozomi watched her girlfriend take a deep breath and throw the door open. Eli hurried to the door in the back of the shop and opened that up too. She used the ball of her foot to pirouette to the right and punched in numbers to deactivate the alarm. Eli dragged herself to the front of the door and gave Nozomi the all clear to enter.
The heating system was active and the lights flickered to life as Nozomi stepped into Bibi.
"Did you change the layout?" She noticed the daffodils and roses had switched places. Eli put down her bag and nodded with a hum.
"Just a change in colour, the red on the right was getting irritating," Eli threw on her apron and tied it securely around herself. Upon emerging from the backroom, she saw Nozomi peering at two entwined daffodils while hugging her sketchbook. Eli's eyes softened at the sight, moving to the counter to turn on the register.
"You can draw all you want, but you're not leaving the store," Eli tapped the register to life and turned to see if there was a chair lying around somewhere.
"I understand, Elichi," Nozomi sighed and pulled out a pencil from her bag, along with her phone.
"Can I make a phone call in your backroom please?"
"Of course, you can do whatever you like here," Eli smiled, and Nozomi gave her a quick wink as she made her way to the door.
"Just don't smoke inside the shop."
"Yes yes," Nozomi chuckled, closing the door behind her.
When Maki showed up for her shift at Bibi, she wasn't expecting to see Nozomi sitting in the back room, staring at a pot of entwined daffodils with her tongue stuck out.
"N-Nozomi?!"
The tattoo artist looked up with a grin, "Hello Maki-chan!"
The red-head strode right up to Nozomi and grabbed her shoulder firmly, a violet gaze boring down at her, "How are you still alive? I was certain Eli would have skinned you alive and sold you to the Russian black market,"
Nozomi chuckled lightly, ignoring Maki's nails that were digging into her shoulder, "You and me both. This is my punishment," she gestured to herself. Maki raised an eyebrow and let go of Nozomi's shoulder. As she took a deep breath, the aroma of flowers filled her nostrils.
"How you're even in front of me as some molecule formation still baffles me," Maki took off her coat and got ready to put on her red apron.
"What days do you work, Maki-chan?" Nozomi changed the conversation, feathering the daffodil stems.
"Sundays, Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. All in the afternoon. Why do you ask?" Maki tied her red apron around her waist and made to put her hair into a side ponytail. Nozomi shrugged, eyes going back to her drawing.
"Just wondering."
Maki looked down at her feet, and then awkwardly moved closer to Nozomi, extending her arms to bring the artist into an embrace. Nozomi's head snapped up as she looked at Maki, who was now hugging her awkwardly from behind.
"Y-You're such an idiot, I don't even know…" She mumbled into Nozomi's back.
"Honoka and I searched your studio, and you weren't there…"
Nozomi closed her eyes and sighed, "I am sorry for making you worry, Maki-chan. I promise that it will never happen again. I'm sure of it."
"You better be," Maki detached herself from Nozomi and scowled down at her.
"Because Eli's anxious wrath is not something we can protect you from."
"Maki, can you water the roses please?" Eli asked the causal worker while she peered down at the folder of reports Nico had left for her to sign. Typical Nico, she would get everything ready, but never actually do the paperwork - and there was a lot of it. Eli's eye twitched as she let out a long sigh. It was going to take forever.
"Nico-chan said she didn't want to go into the contract on the bottom," Maki seemed to have read Eli's mind.
The blonde huffed in annoyance, sifting through the stack of papers within the folder, and pulled out the three pages stapled together from the bottom of the pile. Flicking through it, she noticed that there were no signs of anyone even touching it.
"Nico has Nico Nii'd her last Nico," Eli muttered under her breath. She snatched the contract off the counter and stormed off into the back room.
"What did Niccochi do now?" Nozomi didn't even look up from her sketchbook as Eli slapped the contract down on the table in an blizzard of fury.
"Not her job, that's for sure," Eli's gritted teeth didn't make the response very clear. She quickly read through the contract, and then pulled out a pen from her apron to sign the line at the bottom.
What stopped her was a glance at Nozomi's sketchbook: Eli knew Nozomi was renowned for her bright flower designs, as well as her intricate classical style, but what was on the paper really did blow Eli's mind. It was a woman's face, with makeup like that of a skull, surrounded by vines and flowers blooming. Nozomi had taken out her colour pencils to and was starting to to over the white areas with green.
"Wow," Eli's anger vanished instantly, gazing at the drawing in awe. Nozomi sensed her looking, and smiled, "I draw what I love: flowers and women,"
"Not death? She's skeletal," Eli jabbed lightly, and Nozomi laughed.
"It's makeup, Elichi. She's painted like a Calavera," the artist explained, and Eli tore her eyes away from the drawing and back down at the contract.
An idea struck Eli straight away.
"Nozomi," she lowered her voice and placed a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. Nozomi looked up, blinking.
"Hmm?"
"I haven't told you this yet, but I'm thinking of...well," Eli pushed the contract towards Nozomi, and the turquoise gaze flickered down to skim through the fine print.
"...A delivery van? In Tokyo?" Nozomi looked back up at Eli with a small grin.
"Elichi, the streets of Tokyo are a mean place for such a pretty girl like yourself to be driving on,"
"Not me...yet…" Eli's cheeks were grazed with a blush, her fingers making small circles around the paper.
"The delivery van will have one sole purpose: deliver flowers to clients. I'm also thinking of maybe employing someone with a driver's licence to drive it, since it will take me some time to learn how to drive."
"You really want to buy a van that badly?" Nozomi's wry smile was not going to change Eli's ming. She ignored her soulmate's query and pointed to the contract again.
"The contract says that the van will be mine to own, which means I can do anything I want it interior and exterior. Obviously, I'm going to have to modify the insides to make is suitable for transporting flowers, but I had a thought about the exterior."
"Do tell," Nozomi placed her chin on top of her clasped hands. Eli looked down at the drawing again.
"Would you want to design something for the exterior?"
Nozomi's eyebrows flew into her bangs. She had never had a design opportunity outside of university. Eli smiled softly, "I know that you draw and tattoo flowers better than anyone else,"
Nozomi hummed, excitement radiating from her.
"If you give me the measurements of the van, I'm more than happy to draw up some things for you, Elichi," Nozomi smiled, and her phone screen lit up next to her sketchbook. She picked up the phone and read the message.
"I will design something for you today, because tomorrow is a meeting with Nitta."
"Thank you," Eli hugged Nozomi and kissed her temple, enjoying the warmth she emitted.
Eli had a feeling that designing her van's exterior would provide her with an alternative creative outlet while her business's problems were being tackled with.